Sealing means for boxes.



999mm. 9 SEALING MEANS FOR BOXES. APPLICATION FILEDJUNE 15, 1910.

Patented July 4,1911,

APH co.. wASHlN UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIQE.

ELLSWORTH E. FLORA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO SIMPLEX METAL BOUND BOX COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

sEALnve MEANS ron Boxes.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1911.

To @ZZ 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLswoRTH E. FLORA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sealing Means for Boxes, of

vwhich the following is a specification.

My object is to provide a simple, novel and inexpensive method of and device for fastening down and sealing, more especially, the projecting tongues of metal-bound boxes of the general type shown in Reissue Patent No. 12800, granted to me May 26, 1908. The body of a box of this .type is formed of sheets of box-stock bound and fastened together with metal strips having trough-sections, which incase the edges of said sheets, flanges forming abutments for inset box ends, and projecting tongues on the strips for fastening down the box cover.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a metal-bound box of the type defined, with seals applied to fasten down t-he cover; Fig. 2, a sectional view of my improved seal; Fig. 3, a fragment-ary view illustrating the way the seal is applied; and Fig. 4, an enlarged section on line 4 in Fig. 1 showing a seal in place.

When the box-cover -5 is closed, each of its projecting tongues 6 is bent to extend along the adjacent metal-bound side edge of the box front 7 and the two are punched to form a sealing opening 8 through the tongue and a sealing opening 9 coincident therewith, through the box-stock and its metal binding-strip.

The improved seal is formed with a shell which is of brass, or other suitable, relatively hard material, having a flange 11 incased in a disk of lead, or other suitable, relatively soft metal forming the sealinghead 12. The shell, or hollow shank, 10 is provided with a filler 13 of the said comparatively soft metal. 'Ihe openings 8, 9 should be of a diameter to barely admit the shank of the seal, and the latter should be of a length slightly less than that of the openings. The seal is placed in position by passing it through the opening 8 and partway through the opening 9, as shown in Fig. 3. It is then subjected to pressure by means of a suitable tool having a head-engaging jaw 14 and a jaw 15 equipped with a slightly tapering pin 16. As the jaws are pressed in the direction of each other a suitable die or matrix (not shown) on the jaw 14 may form a private character 17 upon the surface of the sealing-head 12 and't-he pin embeds itself in thel metal filler 13 to swell the same and expand the shank l0 circumferentially into the box-stock between the surfaces of the latter within the binding-strip. The expanding of the shank causes it to form an annular shoulder so embedded in the wall of the box-stock opening 9 as to produce a secure fastening means for the seal which, in consequence, cannot be extracted and replaced in a manner to defy ready detection, without the employment of so much skill and time as to render the attempt, by anyone under the necessity of disguising the fact, very unlikely.

My improved seal may be modified in the matter of details of construction without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined by the claim.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- In a metal-bound box, the combination with a body portion formed of box-stock, of metal binding strips having trough-shaped sections in which the end-portions of the box-stock are contained, and means for securing and sealing the binding strip to the said contained end portions comprising a seal having an enlarged head, a hollow shank of relatively hard metal, and a ller in the shank of relatively soft metal, the shank passing through one side of the trough-sec tion of the binding strip and partway through said box-stock, the filler and shank being expanded to indent the latter circumferentially between its ends into the boxstock.

ELLSWORTH E. FLORA. In presence of- L. HEIsLAR,

R. SCHAEFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 1). C. 

